Kelly Neiles, assistant professor of chemistry, and student Ivy Todd (‘16) have published the paper “Establishing the Validity of Using Network Analysis Software for Measuring Students’ Mental Storage of Chemistry Concepts” in the Journal of Chemical Education. The paper covers two studies that introduce a novel method for investigating students’ structural knowledge of chemistry topics using a program called Pathfinder. In these studies, the Pathfinder program is investigated for validity (content, construct, criterion, and concurrent), as well as its sensitivity to changes in students’ structural knowledge.
Neiles joined the St. Mary’s College faculty in 2013, after receiving her Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America. Her areas of expertise include chemistry education, students’ use of chemistry texts, general chemistry sequence, contemporary chemistry, and collaborations between two-year and four-year chemistry departments.
Todd is a biochemistry major from Bowie, Md.